Ask the Author: Mary Chamberlain
Answered Questions (11)
Mary Chamberlain
Hi LaRee - delighted my novel is your book club choice! I’m actually on holiday at the moment and am having difficulty seeing (on my phone) which of my novels is your choice! I’m very happy to help out but please can you tell me which novel you have chosen? Thank you, Mary
Mary Chamberlain
Thank you Jessica - I'm so pleased you enjoyed the book. I very much wanted to write a book about wartime survival, and how a woman's war would be viewed with different standards from that of a man's war so from the beginning I wanted Ada to be a person of her time and gender. I had the last page in my head almost before I wrote the novel - the tricky bit was how to reach that ending so, yes, I guess I wanted her never to stand a chance... the 1940s was a brutal time for women.
Mary Chamberlain
Thanks Eileen! Pierre was a wheeler-dealer who was prepared to play both sides in the war to his own or his friends’ advantage. Having said that, he had a soft spot for Joe and wanted him to be less lonely. Perhaps. Perhaps he also thought that by introducing Trude to Joe, knowing that a) Joe has access to a cross section of islanders and b) Trude could be used to garner information for the Germans, this could work in his - Joe’s - favour. Perhaps. Perhaps Pierre was also lonely - trusted by no one though used by all. It could be all of the above. But he did save Joe and Joe never forgot that which is why they stayed friends. Does this help?
Mary Chamberlain
Dear Eileen,
I'm so glad you liked the book - and thank you for your question. My main purpose in this relationship was for Trude to act as a spy - Joe, as a priest, had privy to a wide range of island opinion which, by seducing him, she could access. In the course of this, of course, she stumbled upon the farmhouse and Geoffrey's resistance activities. She wasn't quite a Mata Hari but I liked the idea of a woman spy, and I liked the idea of her seducing a male civilian (it's usually the other way round.) At the same time, Joe was conflicted about his priesthood and lonely so he was vulnerable to her advances. He was an innocent who could not register that he had been exploited. I hope that answers your question!
I'm so glad you liked the book - and thank you for your question. My main purpose in this relationship was for Trude to act as a spy - Joe, as a priest, had privy to a wide range of island opinion which, by seducing him, she could access. In the course of this, of course, she stumbled upon the farmhouse and Geoffrey's resistance activities. She wasn't quite a Mata Hari but I liked the idea of a woman spy, and I liked the idea of her seducing a male civilian (it's usually the other way round.) At the same time, Joe was conflicted about his priesthood and lonely so he was vulnerable to her advances. He was an innocent who could not register that he had been exploited. I hope that answers your question!
Mary Chamberlain
If it was a mystery, why would I want to give it away? Though I did have a secret which has only recently been revealed!
Mary Chamberlain
There is a simple answer to this: inspiration only comes when I have a story to tell. No story, no inspiration... this has been true of my fiction as well as my non-fiction.
Mary Chamberlain
I had two aunts - one was a nun who was in France when the Germans occupied, was taken prisoner, and set to work as a nurse. The other aunt ran away and was never spoken of again - it was considered a huge disgrace. But I was intrigued by both stories - and conflated them into one. The saintly aunt, and the sinning aunt, in the character of Ada Vaughan!
Mary Chamberlain
I am working on another story set during, and after, the Second World War. It is set in the Channel Islands, the only part of Great Britain to be occupied by the Germans. I am exploring themes of betrayal and survival, and their reckoning after the war. But I am also trying to invert – or subvert – some of the usual stereotypes, and tell the story through two very different characters and perspectives. Watch this space…
Mary Chamberlain
Write, write write and read, read, read! There are no shortcuts - if you want to write, you have to get down and do it, again and again. In short: don't give up!
Mary Chamberlain
To immerse yourself in the imagination is a huge luxury and a freedom. At the same time, solving logistical and logical problems of narrative, plot, characters and setting is a stimulating intellectual challenge. I have written histories, and I now write historical fiction, so conveying a feel for period, combines for me my love of both history and literature!
Mary Chamberlain
There is no easy answer - except to sit at that desk and try and try! Reading a favourite author can sometimes help, or experimenting in a new genre. But often, a block is there because you don't really know what to say, so some hard thinking may have to be done! Or a good walk...
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